You're Not in Wyverley Anymore
by Sithstrukk
Summary: Sabriel wakes up. In a bar. On the beach. How did she get there? Why is everyone calling her Annabelle? How does her mother fit into all this?


**So The Shoppe forum is having a Summer in the City contest. I came up with this idea way back and due to certain difficulties with the fic couldn't finish it soon enough to spiffy it up and make it better written. But I wanted to submit something, so here it is.  
One of the challenges was to use a line from a public domain song somewhere in the fic. I chose Scarborough Fair; one of my favorite songs. **

"Aaanabelle! Aaanabelle! Anna-my goodness, wake up!"

Sabriel jumped a foot in the air, her knuckles turning white as she collapsed again, groping at the wood in front of her. There was a raspy cackle somewhere to her right. She twisted her head around, barely taking in her surroundings. The person in front of her-a middle aged woman-was bathed in sharp sunlight coming in from somewhere. She wore a dress with a shamefully short skirt and her nimble, golden tanned arms were folded across her practically bare chest. She smelled like beer. (Not that Sabriel would know what that smelled like. _Noo_, not at all.) Sabriel rolled her eyes at the thought.

"Wait, you're talking to me?" She blinked.

"Who else? You're the only Annabelle around here!" the woman said in a more normal voice.

"My name's Sabriel!"

The woman shook her head of bleached blond hair and laughed. "Annabelle, you are a _riot!_ I've never seen you so drunk! Last night... well, let's just say you were not yourself."

"I'm not supposed to be here," Sabriel told her rather numbly.

"But you come here all the time."

"No I don't." "An-ah-_belle_," the woman said, exasperated and impatient. "I let you spend the night here  
once you were out cold. You'll come too soon. So come on, get out." She reached forward and snagged Sabriel's arm, using it to drag her to her feet. Sabriel stifled a scream as she found herself in a dress almost as skimpy as the woman's. "You'll be fine soon enough." She looked very doubtful. "Hey, you know what? Louie!" She called to a young man sitting at the bar without a drink. Sabriel stared at him. He was sandy haired, tan, and had brown eyes. He had broad shoulders and was of medium height. Then she scanned the room. It was a wooden, dingy shack with a bar counter in the center.

She was in... a bar.

Charter preserve her.

"...Yup, Louie, come over here, this is Annabelle."

"Sabriel."

"Annabelle." The woman kept a pompous gaze on the boy. "She's had too much to drink," she said in that _duh_ voice.

"So?" Louie shrugged. "What can I do about it, Patty?"

"Annabelle's a good girl," Patty said as if to warn him. "Just take her outside, keep an eye on her for about an hour, and make sure she doesn't drown." She slipped him a small coin. "She'll be sober soon. Get her some water."

Yes, ma'am," Louie nodded, flashing Sabriel a toothy smile. He leaned forward to grab her arm. "C'mon Annabelle."

"Louie's a good boy, Belle-dear! He'll keep you out of trouble!" Patty called to Sabriel as she was led out the door and into Sea City.

_ooooo_

"I think I feel better," Sabriel insisted as Louie bought her a third glass of water.

Louie was unconvinced. "Drink it anyway."

Sabriel obeyed, ducking her head and drinking the lukewarm liquid. When it was done she handed it back to the bartender. Louie nodded in satisfaction and gestured for her to follow him outside. He sauntered up to a bench and plopped down on it. Sabriel followed suit more primly, trying to stretch the skirt over her legs.

"The sunshine will do you good," Louie explained. He stretched out his legs and folded his arms behind his head in a relaxed position.

Sabriel folded her hands in her lap. Adults and children milled around shops and bars. "Do they have any places other than bars around here? Any restaurants?" she asked.

"They're down that way." Louie flicked his thumb to the left. "But the good stuff's down here."

Sabriel had no reply to that. She returned to gazing into space and formulating theories as to how she got to Sea City in the first place. Her best guess was Charter magic, but that would mean she was in the Old Kingdom… which made sense, considering the lack of technology. She knew of no spell that would transport her to Sea City, but that didn't mean it didn't exist.

"Where is this place?" She asked daintily.

Louie squinted at her, slowly explaining, "The Old Kingdom, where elese?"

"Oh," Sabriel replied. "Oh… how nice."

"Yeah." Louie blinked, shielding his face from the Sun. "Well, is there anything else you need?"

Sabriel felt her ears turn pink as she squirmed. She really was in an uncomfortable situation. But those three glasses of water…

"Yes, please," she said, using all the etiquette and dignity she could muster, only to cave in and dart near Louie's ear long enough to shyly whisper, "Where is the ladies room?"

Louie tilted his head back. He had his mouth half open, as if he knew what to say but now how to say it. "Well, Annabelle, in Sea City the facilities are… busy."

"I don't mind waiting." Sabriel refolded her hands in her lap.

"Er, no. You don't understand. They're _always _full. With all the bar patrons… you know. Your best bet is, well, the sea."

"The _sea?_" Sabriel jumped to her feet. She had heard a lot of strange things, but using the sea?

Louie stood beside her and pressed on her shoulder to sit her down again. "Will ya keep it down? Yes, you'll have to use to sea. Is that a problem?"

"Yes," said Sabriel instantly.

Louie sighed. "Let's go see Patty."

_ooooo_

"The miss won't go in the water?" Pattie burst out when Louie revisisted her. "Annabelle, you were never afraid! You love to swim!"

"I've never been swimming! Please don't make me!" Sabriel cried.

"What didja do, get her more drunk?" Patty screamed, furious, at Louie.

"No! All she had was water! I bought it myself!"

"But you didn't test it!" Patty shook her finger at him. "You didn't sip it! Stupid boy. They could have given her cold hard _booze _for all we know!"

"Smell her," Louie said desperately. "She's not durnk!"

Patty was pulling on her hair in frustration. "I'm not smelling a miss! Never let a boy do a woman's work!"

Once again, Sabriel was being yanked by the rest by Patty into a back room. "An' I have a pot, but she's not going to use it! We're going to get our Annabelle back!"

_ooooo_

Sabriel felt so… naked. She was pretty sure she had never worn a swimsuit before. Even if she had, it certainly wasn't like the one Patty happened to have in the back room. It was clean; it didn't smell or have stains. Nonetheless, she was revolted.

"Ready." Patty appeared, wearing a swimsuit worse than Sabriel's. Sabriel wanted to hide her head in the sand in shame. All around her people were wearing swimsuits. They weren't too horrendous… if you didn't look too hard.

Patty was chewing her lower lip in anxious impatience. "Ready to do this, Anna-dear? Don't answer that. Let's go." Without further ado, Patty began strutting toward the crystal blue waves. Sabriel followed at a tentative pace. She kept up the slow steps until her feet began to roast. The sand was fiery hot.

"Pick up the pace or your feet will be ashes!" Patty called over her shoulder, already at a jog. Sabriel picked up the pace to a fully fledged run, shrieking as hot sand met sensitive skin. Then something pinched her big toe.

"Something stung me!" she cried.

"Sand crab. They just pinch!" Patty had to scream as they neared the waves.

Sabriel felt her legs begin to tremble. "Oh no," she gasped. The waves were huge.

"Not bad once you're out of the waves," Patty advised. "Now be a big girl 'cause I don't want to have hold your hand anymore."

"I'm not doing this," Sabriel choked. She felt ready to cry. She was far from home with no way of getting back, confused about her identity… and now this.

"I don't care if you have to go anymore or not. We've come so far, and we want our Annabelle back!" Patty said forcefully, once again taking her hand and dragging her towards the water.

"But I'm not your Annabelle! I'm Sabriel!" Sabriel screamed.

"That's _enough!_ You're going to _take a piss _and you're going to be normal!" Patty's violent temper had taken hold. She had had enough nonsense. She pushed Sabriel towards the waves, but Sabriel lost her footing and tumbled headfirst into them.

She was thrashing. Water was all around her, sucking her down in a torrent of foam and sand. Water filled her mouth and lungs, and panic overtook her.

_ooooo_

"…Are you going to Scarborough Fair?" two soft, in tune voices sang with the accompaniment of a guitar. Sabriel blinked in the dim light and lifted her heavy head, only to set it back down again. Three people were standing over her. Two she recognized as Patty and Louie. That meant she still wasn't out of this nightmare. The other person was male, definitely male. He had beautiful eyes, the most perfect lips, and… he worse no shirt. Bulging muscles were plainly exposed.

She could have fainted again.

Patty outstretched a hand to put on her forehead. Her tone was apologetic as she said, "I'm sorry, Belle-dear. We've all been too rough on you." Sabriel murmured something to herself. Patty took it as a bad sign. "Oh, but this is Darwin! He… rescued you."

"Then thank you, Darwin," Sabriel mumbled.

"It was my pleasure," Darwin whispered.

Through her misery Sabriel stifled a snort. "But where am I?"

"Back in the bar. Probably the last place you want to be, but-" Patty was interrupted by Darwin, who nudged her and titled his head to the side, as if asking her to go away. "Oh. We'll leave you two for now."

Patty took Louie by the hand and they retreated behind Sabriel's field of view. She was left lying on a bench and draped in a blanket with Darwin bending over her. It anyone from Wyverley saw her now…

"Sabriel," Darwin began. "From the moment I saw you, I knew something had happened. Something between us."

_Yeees…? _Sabriel willed him off, half excited and half terrified. He was so handsome…

"…And I love you. Will you marry me?" Darwin asked.

Sabriel choked on air. MARRY HIM? "No… I can't… but you… how I…?"

Louie was by her side in an instant. "You can't do that!" He yelled at Darwin. "I wanted to-"

"You disgusting boy!" Patty bellowed at Louie, realizing his true intentions. "At least Dar-dear has the decency to ask her to marry him first!"

"Stop," Sabriel begged them, closing her eyes again.

Patty was by her side in an instant, stroking her forehead. "Oh, it's alright… calm down. Think of things back home… just relax."

Sabriel thought of Wyverly, the place she would never see again. How she wanted to go back! She wanted to see her friends and even her teachers. She missed everything.

Instinctively, Charter marks formed on her tongue as she thought of the magic classes; her father…

"Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme…" the bar singers sang.

_ooooo_

She woke up in bed. Her bed at Wyverley. Her own bed.

She flew off the bed, wildly looking around. But how...? "Crazy," she murmured grimly. She just recollected everything. She had finished reading a page of that blasted Book of the Dead. (Charter knows if it had anything to do with it) and was heading off to sword fighting class.

She couldn't bring up the experience to anyone at Wyverley. But she could tell her father. He knew about things in the Old Kingdom. He was expected to visit soon anyway.

_ooooo_

Sabriel and her father sat before a crackling fire. Sabriel was staring at her hands.

"Sabriel? What's wrong?" Her father asked.

"Have you heard of a place called Sea City in the Old Kingdom?" Sabriel asked carefully.

Her father's forehead creased as he furrowed his eyebrows, thinking hard. "Why... yes. Your mother talked about it when I met her. Apparently she went there a lot."

"I went there," Sabriel said quickly. "I woke up... there. And they called me Annabelle."

Her father's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Annabelle? That's your mother's name!"

"But she's dead!" Sabriel exclaimed, thunderstruck.

Her father eyed her carefully. "Have you been doing magic?"

"No. Well, in Sea City I was in a panic and conjured a few Charter marks... which landed me back here," Sabriel explained, telling the whole story to the mesmerized man in front of her.

"Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. That's it!" Her father slapped his knee. "It's a spell, older than the herbs themselves. It does different things with different Charter marks. It must have transported you into your mother's place and brought you back!"

"I've never heard of anything like it," said Sabriel blankly.

"You have much to learn," her father sighed.

"Parsley, sage... consider yourself very lucky."

"Why?"

"Sea City isn't the proper place for a young lady."

"You can say that again," Sabriel shuddered.

**Confused? Convinced I'm crazy? You have much to learn. In order to comment, press the review button.  
The line "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme" never made much sense to me. I looked it up, and some suggest it may be a love potion of some sort. So I thought, "Hey, why not a Charter Spell?" a little different, I know. And yes, they do have a Scarborough Fair in the Old Kingdom. It's right next to their Disney World, don't cha know?**


End file.
